One day in Rome for the future of cohesion policy... and for the Italo-Romanian friendship!

There were two important moments to my visit to Rome on 22 February: a solid meeting with the Italian Minister for Regional Cohesion, and the launch of a book on the "brotherhood" between the Italian and Romanian peoples, a book focusing on the Romanian community living in Italy.

The world urban forum: Where Europe's beacon shines strong

After Quito in 2016, Kuala Lumpur from 7 to 13 February 2018. The world urban forum took place in the capital of Malaysia, a city renowned for its futuristic architecture, including the famous Petronas Towers.

Sending a strong message of cohesion at the MFF conference

On 8 January 2018, the Commission organised a conference on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), that is the rules and maximum amounts that will rule all EU programmes beyond 2020. I was heartened to hear President Juncker express his support to cohesion policy and to hear so many participants follow suit. Here was my speech to them at the end of the first day.

The Alpine Forum shows the way forward!

On 23 and 24 November, the first Alpine Forum took place in Bavaria. Close to 600 participants from seven countries converged towards Munich to take a "snapshot" of what this specific macro-regional strategy has achieved and to set objectives for the future.

Helping Umbria recover from earthquakes

The European Union is much more than simply paperwork and regulations. It is first and foremost a voluntary solidarity union of some 500 million people. This was demonstrated again on 21 November in the case of the Italian region of Umbria.

One week for Europe's outermost regions

"Far from the eyes, far from the heart" has been an accepted truth for centuries. This week proved it wrong, especially in the case of those European regions that are thousands of kilometres away from the European continent.

Joint Statement of EU Commissioner Creţu, Jourova and Bulc on the RegioStar Award for women empowerment

On 10 October the region of Murcia won the RegioStar award for the best cohesion policy project in the 'Women empowerment and active participation" category for their EU-funded project on empowering victims of gender-based violence. To congratulate the winner, EU Commissioners Creţu, Jourova and Bulc issued the following statement:

"Ostbelgien", cross-border cooperation(s) on a daily basis

In that part of Belgium neighbouring both The Netherlands and Germany, local and regional authorities from those three countries have decided that working together is the way forward. Enter cross-border cooperation, enter Interreg!

How much is your Europe worth?

Today, my colleague Commissioner Gunther Oettinger and I present the Commission's "reflection paper on the future of EU finances". What sort of budget will we need in future? In what should it invest? How should it work?